In August 1908, Mahatma Gandhi organised a Passive
Resistance Campaign to get South Africans of Indian
origin to resist the law that required all Indians
to carry registration certificates. The culmination
of the protest was the bonfire of 1908 where 2,000
protestors placed their certificates in a large iron
pot and they were set alight. This bonfire of 1908
was an important event in the passive resistance or
Satyagraha campaign of Gandhi and as such is part of
our South African legacy.

In commemoration of this event, the Gandhi Centenary
Committee, the Indian Consulate in Johannesburg, the
University of the Witwatersrand and the Centre for
Indian Studies in Africa are hosting a series of
events.

Public Lecture by Professor Kader Asmal
Passive Resistance, Then and Now
Date: 18 August 2008
Time: 19h00
Venue: Constitutional CourtClick here for
more information)

Most South Africans have a
minimal knowledge of the role that Gandhi played in
the struggle and the kinds of activities that he
engaged in during his period. The Gandhi Committee,
Johannesburg opted to develop a comic that depicts
Gandhi’s South African period and introduces the
readers to the tradition of resistance evident in
our own struggle against apartheid in this country.